Create custom translation tables for XCOM for Unix, LINUX, Windows
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Create custom translation tables for XCOM for Unix, LINUX, Windows

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Article ID: 9471

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Updated On:

Products

XCOM Data Transport XCOM Data Transport - Windows XCOM Data Transport - Linux PC XCOM Data Transport - z/OS

Issue/Introduction

This technical document includes detailed information on customizing translation tables for XCOM distributed platforms.

Starting with XCOM r11.6, XCOM supports Unicode and multi-byte character sets.  See CA XCOM Data Transport r11.6 Introduces Unicode and Multi-Byte Character Set Support

If you still need to create specific translation tables, first check with the local Broadcom Support organization to see if they have any sample translation tables for your language. If so, backup the current etoa.tab and atoe.tab tables and copy the samples into your convtab directory (see paths below), recycle xcomd and test.

Environment

Component: XCOM Data Transport for Windows, UNIX or Linux

Resolution

To customize the tables, you will need to know for each character you want to change:

  • The EBCDIC decimal value of the character you want to change
  • The ASCII hex value the character should be translated to

Each translation table is a text file with one hex character value per line.

For the ETOA table:

  1. Make a backup copy of the default etoa.tab file.  It is located in $XCOM_HOME/convtab/.   (for Windows $XCOM_HOME\convtab\
  2. Customize the etoa.tab
    Here are the steps on how to locate the line you need to change: Use an editor that allows you to identify the line number you are editing.
  • Determine the decimal value of the character you want to translate.
  • For example, say the EBCDIC character coming in has a value of 220.
  • add 1 to the value = 221 (because the table starts at offset 0 instead of 1).
  • Go line 221 in the etoa.tab table and enter the correct hex value
  • Repeat for additional characters, if needed
  • save the change

For the ATOE table:

The process to change the ATOE tables is similar.

  1. Make a backup copy of the atoe.tab file from $XCOM_HOME/convtab/.   (For Windows $XCOM_HOME\convtab\)
  2. Customize the atoe.tab.
    Here are the steps on how to locate the line you need to change: Use an editor that allows you to identify the line number you are editing.
  • Determine the decimal value of the character you want to translate.
  • For example, say the ASCII character being sent has a value of 61 decimal.
  • add 1 to the value = 62 (because the table starts at offset 0 instead of 1).
  • Go line 62 in the atoe.tab table and enter the correct hex value 
  • Repeat for additional characters, if needed
  • save the changes.
     
  1. Edit the xcom.glb file
    • change INTERNAL_CONVERSION_TABLES = NO
    • If needed, change the ETOA_FILENAME= $XCOM_HOME/convtab/etoa.tab (or for Windows $XCOM_HOME\convtab\etoa.tab\)
    • If needed, change the ATOE_FILENAME= $XCOM_HOME/convtab/atoe.tab  (or for Windows $XCOM_HOME\convtab\atoe.tab\)
  2. Stop and Start xcomd, to incorporate the changes.

Additional Information

A more detailed description can be found on documentation page: How to Create Custom Character Sets for File Conversion.